The present invention relates generally to storage systems and, more particularly, to a mobile high bay storage system in which storage units are movable along a storage unit guide arrangement to selectively form an aisle between adjacent storage units along which a vehicle may be guided by a vehicle guide arrangement. The storage system may also include a perceptible indicator that signals when an aisle is fully open and thus ready to receive the vehicle.
Industrial rack systems are commonly used in storage facilities to store products until those products are shipped either directly to a consumer or to a retailer. Typically, the industrial racks store loaded pallets that are placed on and removed from the racks using a forklift or similar work vehicle. The industrial racks are spaced from one another in a manner to form relatively wide aisles to allow sufficient room for the forklift to load and remove the pallets. Since each industrial rack has a fixed position, each industrial rack must have a dedicated aisle. Moreover, since each aisle is typically as wide, if not wider than, the rack itself, more than half the floor space occupied by the industrial rack system may be occupied by aisles and thus not usable for product storage.
Mobile industrial rack systems, however, are designed to reduce the number of fixed aisles and, as a result, increase the amount of floor space used for product storage. More particularly, in a typical configuration, a single aisle may be allocated for the entire industrial rack system. The position of that single aisle can be changed by moving the industrial racks along a track or rail that is mounted or otherwise secured to the storage facility flooring, which is typically a concrete slab. While in some configurations each industrial rack is moved independently, it is common for back-to-back industrial racks to be coupled using a rigid flue spacer connector and moved as a single unit by a single mobile carriage supporting both racks. To access a forward rack of a given back-to-back configuration, the racks are moved such that an aisle is formed immediately forward of the back-to-back configuration. To access a rearward rack of the given back-to-back configuration, the racks are moved such that an aisle is formed immediately rearward of the back-to-back configuration. Thus, mobile industrial rack systems provide nearly twice the storage capacity of a similarly sized fixed rack system.
Stationary storage racks are spaced sufficiently from one another to define an aisle that is wide enough for the vehicle to be moved down the aisle and unload or load a pallet with room for the vehicle to maneuver as needed. In a mobile storage unit system however, the position of an open aisle changes as the individual storage units are moved. Thus, the vehicle operator must be cognizant of the spacing between those storage units between which an aisle is formed. If the vehicle is entered into an aisle that is not fully open or is entered along an imprudent path, the operator may find that the vehicle does not have sufficient room to perform the desired loading or unloading functions.